Oborne & Heller on Cricket

World Cricket And All That Shapes It Covered By Wisden Editor Lawrence Booth

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2023 is the longest edition on record. It not only records the present state of global cricket but also reflects on the mighty global forces –

Sovereigns, stars, stewards, scorers, statisticians … Steven Lynch on this year’s Wisden obituaries

Two monarchs lead the obituaries in the 2023 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. As always, it is a melancholy but matchless memorial to global cricket’s losses, and

From teenage record breaker to players’ champion: James Harris of Glamorgan and the PCA

After a record-breaking early start in county cricket for Glamorgan, James Harris is back with them after spells with Middlesex and Kent. He has also begun his second ter

The weird genius who revolutionized cricket history

Many eccentric geniuses have written about cricket, and indeed played it. Few have been as eccentric as Major Rowland Bowen – or had his genius. In 1970, after years of d

Two testaments of cricket and war

John Broom has combined his passions for cricket and military history in two books on global cricket in both world wars: Cricket In The First World War Play Up! Play The

A story made for the movies – Pakistan women’s cricket

Based in Mumbai, Aayush Puthran is an experienced cricket reporter and analyst, with a strong focus on women’s cricket. He has written an inspirational book, Unveiling Ja

After a hard day in Nagpur, the great cricket writer Mike Coward gives a masterclass on Australian cricket

Mike Coward is among the world’s most distinguished and distinctive cricket writers and broadcasters, although he graciously declines the title of “Australia’s John Arlot

An elephant never forgets India’s first Test victory in England

In August 1971 Bella the elephant from Chessington Zoo travelled to the Oval to watch India’s historic first Test match victory in England.  Her story gives the title to

How professionals save soccer – but not cricket – from public school amateurs, explains sports historian Richard Sanders

In the British isles cricket had a start on association football of over a hundred years as a game with Laws, organization and popular following. In the late Victorian er

Cricket, diplomacy and a fierce despatch from Freddie Flintoff

Cricketer, diplomat and author Tom Fletcher is now Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. As the UK’s ambassador to Lebanon, he made notable efforts to support the countr

England versus Pakistan – the first seventy years with historian Najum Latif

As England play their first Test series in Pakistan for nearly twenty years one of the country’s leading cricket historians, Najum Latif, describes their reception and ce

Another thrilling spell from fast bowling legend Wes Hall

Few sights in cricket’s history have been more thrilling than the great West Indian fast bowler Wes Hall in the 1960s bounding in from his long run. He is now Sir Wesley

Before D’Oliveira – the glories and the shame of England’s Tests against South Africa

In his book Swallows And Hawke, co-written with past podcast guest André Odendaal, the historian Richard Parry gives a uniquely penetrating account of England’s first eig

A select offering from Ed Smith

Ed Smith played cricket for Kent, Middlesex (as captain) and England, was an incisive commentator on Test Match Special and was England’s Chief Selector from 2018 to 2021

From the captains’ table – cricket in two village communities

Two highly successful captains of village cricket teams, Tom Greaves of Reed, Hertfordshire, and Callum Widdows of Horningsham, Wiltshire, are the latest guests of Peter

The cricketing car park of Beirut

Fernando Sugath, a Sri Lankan expatriate, has been playing cricket in Lebanon for 25 years, in some extraordinary places and despite some extraordinary obstacles. With Wi

Wendy Wimbush – fifty years of keeping but never settling scores

Wendy Wimbush has given a lifetime of service to cricket. She is best known as the BBC scorer in the 1970s but has also worked in other capacities in other countries and

Mike Coward - sixty years of great cricket writing

After sixty years’ experience in all forms of media, Mike Coward has become one of the most honoured reporters and analysts of cricket in his native Australia and across

At the wonder house of cricket books

Most of cricket’s history for nearly three hundred years can be found behind a small shopfront in a quiet suburban street in Surrey, forty minutes on the commuter train s

Geoff Boycott celebrates yet another century

Throughout his playing career, Sir Geoffrey Boycott made a habit of celebrating special occasions with a century. It makes him the ideal and appropriate guest for Peter O